To sports fans, Code Red is the University of Louisville's own hip-hop booster club. Sports fans -- hell, just bar regulars -- recall the group's ubiquitous tune "For My Cards," a version of their "For My People" retooled for ESPN. The far-reaching sports network likes the Louisville hip-hop unit so much that their songs began to pop up on non-U of L programming, including the NBA mock draft. And Code Red songs have emerged on behalf of the NFL's Chicago Bears and baseball's St. Louis Cardinals.
It's not quite an "Illmatic" of their own, but the group doesn't shun its success in sports themes -- especially in this topsy-turvy age when ringtones seem to sell better than albums.
"For a while, that's how we made a little money," Mike "El One" Kabel said of the ESPN deals. "To me, I thought it was a blessing. In this day and age, it's all about the merchandising."
Besides, "it definitely created a lot of buzz for us," said Winston "Junior Dread" Keene, clutching three Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds CDs at Ear X-tacy.
True as that is, success in a niche market does not translate into the respect afforded a hip-hop act with a strong album. Now, Code Red is putting the finishing touches on just that. "Commercial Break" is slated for release in early 2009 and will feature production by DJ K-Dogg, a regular on the Fourth Street Live club scene known for his devotion to mainstream pop.
Code Red members said their new beat-maker has added a layer of interesting rhythms and mainstream, Top 40-ish samples over the band's "underground rhymes." With K-Dogg providing the big hooks, the band feels free to make their rhymes edgier, and they hope the result is an album a little less slick than 2006's "All Aboard." And, of course, they hope it will make them known beyond the world of "SportsCenter."
"We kept it real hip-hop this time," said Glenn "Manfred" Rhodes. "The title is a play on words. This is a commercial break for us."
The mix of underground and mainstream has served hip-hop well over the years, but Code Red are now wily veterans of a game where potential and promise don't often translate into stardom. If Code Red is to move beyond U of L's hip-hop booster club, they'll have to work and sweat as much as any blue chip prospect.
Code Red is still recording songs for the album and whittling down the tracklist. The songs that miss the cut will likely be released on a free digital-only album when "Commercial Break" is completed.
"Commercial Break" will be released by Toucan Cove Records and distributed by Universal. Kabel, Rhodes and Keene said they know most of the hard work will fall on them, nevertheless.
"When we signed with a label, we just through it was going to come," Kabel said. "We're over the naïveté. We realize we've got to do a lot ourselves."
The work of promoting the new album begins on July 25 at the Belvedere, where Code Red will share a Forecastle Fest bill with Wu-Tang Clan's GZA and Del the Funkyhomosapien, founder of the Hieroglyphics and formerly of the Gorillaz.
"It's a good opportunity," Rhodes said, smiling.
Chimed in Kabel: "It's right on time -- the album is wrapping up, and there will be a lot of impressionable young minds."
